B.1985     

Working and residing in the Harbor Area / South bay of Tovaangar (Los Angeles), Gloria “Gem” Sanchez earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting with a minor in Art Education from Cal State Puvungna (Long Beach) in 2014. She is a Xicana-Filipina American interdisciplinary artist, arts facilitator,and emerging curator that works in fibers, installation, drawing, and painting. Her recent work combines sculpture and weaving to create a fusion of natural and contemporary materials inspired by memories, stories, dreams, and motifs gathered from her hybrid cultural identities, spiritual cosmologies, and decolonial way of life. She creates art as a vehicle to heal personal and familial intergenerational trauma, honoring those who came before, and finding ways to merge past and present narratives. Her intention is to transpose iconography, elements, and materials from familial & cultural stories to create works that have a connection to the ancestral, feminine, matriarchal, and animistic worldviews.

 She has worked within the local and broader Tovaangar (Los Angeles) community over the years to generate grassroots art actions. She was part of WECAN (Wilmington Enrichment Community Artist Network) from 2009-2011 who occupied ‘ghost gallery’ spaces and local shops to produce art events. From 2011-2013, Gloria worked with Ell@s collective, a feminist/queer facilitated group that created space for each other to heal, generating community arts engagement and activism revolving around violence against women-identifying people in the harbor area. After graduating, Gloria worked with FA4 Collective, which ran as an informal CSULB alumni association. FA4 worked together to facilitate art shows, residencies, community engagement, as well as to maintain a supportive space to help each other develop as artistic professionals and cultural producers. Gloria is an alumni and affiliate of Wilmington’s first artist-run space, Slanguage Studio, founded by her mentors Mario Ybarra Jr. and Karla Diaz. Gloria works at Angels Gate Cultural Center as a coordinator for the San Pedro Arts and Cultural District Coalition - Arts United San Pedro. She is on the organizing committee of the Many Winters Gathering of Elders that takes place on Xaraashnga (Angels Gate Cultural Center), a Native led grassroots cohort that brings together Native American Elders from across Turtle Island to share ancestral knowledge with an emphasis on ceremony, spiritual survival, and collective healing. Gloria is studying to be an occupational therapy practitioner.

Gloria has exhibited work at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Tin Flats, Luna Anais Gallery, Angels Gate Cultural Center, Cerritos College, Downtown Art Center Gallery, Pasadena City College, Orange Coast College, Biola University, LA><ART, Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles Water School, Consulado Mexicano de Los Ángeles, MOCA Geffen Plaza, El Comalito Collective, Pintados Philippine Art Gallery, Flux Art Space, LeiMin Space, and Art Share LA.